Joe A Shaw PA-C - 2/21/2008

Question
I am 21 years old and 6 months ago I wiped out on my mountain bike and I broke my left tib and fib in a total of 7 spots, dislocated the ankle, took a nice chunk of bone out of the ankle and tore the right side of my left foot wide open, I ended up getting two differnt infections and now the doctor just told me that the last infection ate most of the cartilage out of my foot and he said now he wants to fuse my ankle. I wanted to know if there is anything else I could get done cause I am a pretty active guy.

Answer
Clayton,
Wow...that was a bad break...as I was reading it I thought they were going to recommend partial amputation etc..No I don't know of anything else really when it gets to the point you are at. You may could try and research some teaching hospitals etc..for ankle replacements, I know they do them but you may not have enough good bone on either end for it to be a viable option. I would certainly get a second or even third opinion from orthos that do a lot of feet and ankles. I will attach a site I found about ankle replacements. Good luck.
http://footandankle.mdmercy.com/conditions/ankle_arthritis/total_replacement.htm...